Joakim Reiter discussed the links between trade and environmental policies for sustainable development at a gathering of international leaders to mark the 20th anniversary of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva on 28 April.

A side event at the UNFCCC-COP20 Lima Climate Change Conference in December heard how commercializing goods derived from native biodiversity ("BioTrade") can be complemented by climate change mitigation and adaptation measures to unleash private sector engagement.

Experts meeting in Geneva will discuss how the sale and trade of goods sustainably harvested from forests, if expanded, may preserve stands of timber as carbon "sinks" and thus mitigate climate change.